TLC family with 19 kids discuss courtship, high standard of no kissing before marriage

Jill Duggar of TLC's "19 Kids and Counting" recently announced her engagement to Derick Dillard. The Duggar family has been open about the agreed-upon standards.

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By Sarah Sanders Petersen

Cheboygan Daily Tribune - Cheboygan, MI

By Sarah Sanders Petersen

Posted Apr. 11, 2014 at 6:17 PM

By Sarah Sanders Petersen

Posted Apr. 11, 2014 at 6:17 PM

Jill Duggar, 22, of TLC's "19 Kids and Counting" recently announced her engagement to Derick Dillard, 25. The Duggar family has been open about the agreed-upon standards.
"We're just really trying to keep our relationship focused not on the physical but really just more on communication and continuing to learn more about each other," Jill Duggar told ABC.
"We're saving our first kiss and things beyond that for our wedding."
The Duggar family has already spoken about its dating and courtship standards on the TV show. In a TLC interview about courtship, Jill Duggar and her sister Jessa Duggar, 21, explained that they would put off hand-holding with beaus until an engagement is announced and hold off on any kissing until marriage.
Parents Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar explained that during their own courtship they didn't wait until they were married to kiss, and now they wish they had.
"Michelle and I are really grateful that they have chosen to set high standards," Jim Bob Duggar told ABC.
They also explained that his children have made this decision on their own.
"We have told our kids in courtship to set their own rules, and then bring them to Mom and Dad to kind of let us oversee that, and then to also hold you accountable to those," Jim Bob Duggar said in a TLC interview.
Jim Bob Duggar is grateful for the example his older children are setting.
"Both of the girls realize that they've got a lot of little brothers and sisters coming after them," he told ABC.
"I don't think each relationship is going to be the same ... [but] both couples have decided to have high standards in order to keep themselves pure and also set an example for their younger siblings."%3Cimg%20src%3D%22http%3A//beacon.deseretconnect.com/beacon.gif%3Fcid%3D161174%26pid%3D46%22%20/%3E